


Okay.

by royalsunshinehotel



Category: The Newsroom
Genre: F/M, Neal and Annie are CUTE, Neal's in the doghouse tho, god bless dev patel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:36:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29827830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalsunshinehotel/pseuds/royalsunshinehotel
Summary: Neal's in the doghouse.
Relationships: Neal Sampat/ Annie MacDuff, Neal/OFC





	Okay.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Set during/ after 1x06. OC is Marianne “Annie” MacDuff, and she belongs to @hecuba-of-troy and myself. Neal’s in the doghouse…again.

Neal knows he’s in the doghouse. It’s a sinking feeling he’d been sitting with the entire day, ever since Jim asked him to be the forth on the double date from hell. 

She’d been nice enough, but she was also a Ron Paul supporter, and seemed to have sustained significant brain damage besides being a Republican. 

Or maybe you needed brain damage to be a Republican. 

Neal was stewing on the subway. He shook his head in the blue light, trying to prepare a speech that would get him out of the doghouse he’d walked straight into. 

He’s an idiot. 

Annie was perfect. Maybe not perfect, because she’s a human person, but perfect for him anyway. 

And here he’d just had to go and do a favor for Jim. He mutters under his breath a half-formed explanation as to why he had spent the evening with Jim, Jim’s girlfriend, Jim’s girlfriend’s friend, and a sad former-spokesperson for the Romney campaign. 

It had rained a little since he’d taken the F train, and coming up the stairs into cold night air made him feel a bit nostalgic. 

He missed London. He’d love to take Annie there sometime.

The thought quickly chokes off as he intentionally splashes in a puddle. Why was he so stressed about this? They weren’t even dating. She was just another hookup, and she felt the same for him. A hookup he spent most of his time thinking about, and most of his nights with. 

Neal hadn’t been to his apartment in six days. Of course, he’d broken that streak for Jim’s sake, but that wasn’t relevant. 

Was it? 

The tall man stands outside Annie’s building for a full five minutes before making the trek upstairs. Annie was on the third floor, reasonable, but taxing when the elevator was still out after a month. He’s not one to judge on maintenance, the elevator in his building was quickly approaching a year out of order. 

He makes it up the steps, pizzas still warm, and he practically sprints to her door, nerves carrying him through the entire way.

Neal distracts himself from the wait by realizing Annie’s hallway was a 1970s wood tone, like they had on the sides of cars. Her carpet was grey. 

Huh. The things you notice when you’re not being dragged by someone who wasn’t your girlfriend. 

He knocks once, no answer. 

So he knocks again. Annie practically flings the door open. 

Neal’s jaw drops, brain attempting to process what he was looking at. 

Every time Annie dresses up for him, he feels completely shocked. He’d become something of a slut when he came to America, but when she does this it’s like he’s fifteen in the UK, trying to avoid getting shoved into a locker. 

The set was a lace black top with silky shorts. The open robe matched the shorts.

It sets off her skin perfectly. He’d taken it off her three days before and he’d since decided that powder pink was his favorite color. 

Neal takes in her face. She’s pissed. 

“Oh hello co-worker,” the word seems poisonous coming out of her mouth,” how was your date?” 

“Shit thanks, I brought Roma’s Pizza.” Annie’s eyes flick down to the boxes Neal’s carrying. Neal loved staying over, but Annie barely kept the house stocked. 

Annie’s hunger gets the better of her. 

“You may enter, but keep your hands to yourself.” Neal’s heart sinks slightly. Annie feels his eyes on her ass as she walks back into her apartment. She smirks lightly to herself as Neal trails close behind. 

“So how was the date?” Neal winces. “Was she pretty? Was she smart?” He thinks back to the woman he’d spent his evening with and how he’d dismantled her idol. Better not tell Annie that just yet.

And then it hits him.

Oh.

“You make pouting look good.” He smoothly replies, setting the pizza boxes down at the counter. He lifts the lid and stares a little too hard at the spinach pizza he’d gotten for himself. Neal had picked up one with peppers and tomatoes for Annie. She’d decided to eat more vegetables, and he was trying to keep up for solidarity. 

Annie’s leaning against the counter, back arched, putting herself on full display. Neal clenches his jaw. 

“Fuck you.” She casually states, not unlike Sloan Sabbith, who she’d been spending more time with lately. Neal bites back a smile. 

“Is that a little bit of jealousy?” Annie huffs, leaning a little bit closer to him. Just to torture him, no other reason. 

“Double fuck you,” Neal’s lets the smile free, letting a hand graze the hem of Annie’s shorts.

Not to be too much of an guy, but tonight was stressful, and he’d rather be on top of her than eating pizza or talking. 

She takes his hand and removes it, as if it were a bug that had landed. 

“Hands to yourself.” 

Neal involuntarily whines. It’s cold in this apartment because Annie never figured out how to turn on the heat. She’s in his favorite set and he can’t touch her. She had to be suffering like he was, right?”

Or maybe he’s not as slick as he thinks he is. The thought of Neal losing his well-earned edge was shocking, but somehow still a lovely concept. 

“She was a Ron Paul supporter.” Annie snorts in shock. Jim would never, this had to be the new girlfriend’s doing. 

“Jim made you go out with a Ron Paul supporter.” Oh Jim Harper…no. 

“Yup.” Neal takes a bite out of a piece of pizza, feeling Annie’s eyes on him. 

“He owes you big.” She says while chewing. He feels his cock twitch, and he has to kick himself again. 

“Yup.” He thinks of his former date’s points on Ron Paul, and calms down. 

“What are you going to cash in on?” It was a good question, a valid one, and the answer hits Neal like a baseball to the head. 

“I got something.” 

Neal takes a piece of pizza with him as he steps away to make a call. Annie’s tapping her nails against the counter, trying to be less concerned with what Neal was whispering on the phone. 

She’s mad. 

But she still eats the pizza, and leaves her apartment with him. No explanation of where they were going. 

“Get dressed love, we’re going to the Soho Grand.” His chest puffs a little bit thinking he had the upper hand, but then he doesn’t. 

Annie makes the conscious decision to take a subway trip wearing a dress that was just as revealing. A black dress that she’d been saving for a wedding for someone that she hated. Nothing underneath. She rode the subway with her legs partially open, and she made sure he knew. 

In the revealing dress, and a corduroy trench coat, she took the subway with Neal. 

She was freezing, sure, but the look on Neal’s face the whole trip was beyond worth it.

Neal still wasn’t allowed to touch her. 

It’s about 2:45am when the two of them make it to the hotel. Jim had since left, but not before putting the reservation under Neal’s name instead. 

When Neal had called to ask, Jim had seemed quizzical as to why Neal would be going above and beyond for another one night stand. 

Neal had flawlessly dodged the questions, from both Annie and Jim. 

He winces a little at the idea that he’d taken Annie to a ridiculously expensive hotel and she still had no idea what he was trying to do. 

Was he really that broke? 

Oh yeah, yeah he was. 

He and Annie exhale at the same time when they step into the room. Several of the candles had since burned down, but that just made it better. Annie closes her eyes as the warm air settles into her skin.

Neal takes her coat off, pausing for a moment to look at her smooth back. God, he just wants the dress off, but the answer to all of his problems stood in the way. 

Annie turns around, face set off by the low light. He trails his hands on her forearms. She must be freezing.

“Neal I-” 

“Ithinkweshoulddate!” Annie blinks in surprise as Neal cuts her off. Neal hadn’t made a habit of dating. Hell, at twenty two, he’d never had a girlfriend. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right? 

“Wait, hold on.” Annie pulls back and Neal’s heart stops. “You don’t date, Neal.” 

“I mean, I’d like to!” He takes his hands off her forearms and throws them up in the air. Neal pulls away and Annie doesn’t like that. 

“Wait, I wanna date you too!” 

“You wot.” He halts. Annie smiles as Neal’s accent shines through the dull clouds. 

“I thought you didn’t wanna date!” “I thought you didn’t date!” Their words overlap, and it feels as if a star just burst in Annie’s chest.

“Wait is that a yes, are we dating?” Annie holds a hand up, stepping closer to Neal. 

“I mean, I don’t steal a room at the Soho Grand for no one.” Annie huffs at this, running a hand through her hair. 

Annie opens her mouth to speak, likely something snarky. But she closes it, reconsidering.

“Okay.”

Neal’s smile threatens to break his face in half. Annie gets on her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss into his cheek. He lets his hands touch her waist, silky fabric practically frozen. 

“Okay.” 

They’re exhausted at work the next morning. Jim still hasn’t put it together.


End file.
